Evan Morris

Evan Morris was the author of four books, “The Booklover’s Guide to the Internet” (Ballantine Books, 1996; rev. 2nd ed., 1998 ), “The Word Detective” (Algonquin Books, 2000), “Making Whoopee: Words of Love for Lovers of Words” (Algonquin Books, 2004), and “From Altoids to Zima: The Surprising Stories Behind 125 Famous Brand Names” (Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, 2004). Two of his humorous essays were featured in “101 Damnations: The Humorists’ Tour of Personal Hells,” edited by Michael Rosen (Thomas Dunne Books, 2002).

In 2006, Evan had begun work on a new book, “Apocalypse Noun: Grammar Grumps, Comma Cops, and the Greatly Exaggerated Death of the English Language,” to be published by Bloomsbury USA. But he was forced to cancel the project when his steadily worsening neurological symptoms were diagnosed as primary-progressive multiple sclerosis. A diagnosis of stage 4 cancer followed in 2015.

In addition to his parents, Evan Morris was preceded in death by brothers John B. Morris of Columbus, Ohio and Dr. William F. Morris of Cary, North Carolina. He is survived by his wife; his son, Michael Mercurio; sisters Elizabeth Morris Downie, Susan J. Morris, and Mary E. (Mimi) Morris, and her husband, Michael Weber; sisters-in-law Dolores A. Morris and Carol S. Morris; and many other in-laws, nieces, nephews, and cousins.

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